“Sen. Mary Landrieu, the party’s last remaining statewide officeholder from the Deep South.”
Why do all these reports omit Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL)?
“Although Florida is geographically the southernmost state, it is sometimes excluded from contemporary uses of the term “Deep South” due to the significant amount of migration into South Florida from other regions after World War II.”
Because since Florida has had longer and more immigration from the North, the demographers have differentiated it from the other states of the former Confederacy. Add to that the significant Cuban, Caribbean and South American populations on its SE (Miami) coast add to that differentiation (for now.)
One of the markers of that status is that it was the first post-reconstruction southern state to elect a Republican Governor, Claude Kirk, in 1967 (I believe).
Bill has, sort of, "checked out" from the real world. As long as he lays low and doesn't really DO anything, he can get re-elected...for more of the same.
Bill has been to outer space, but he brought back too much of it with him on the way home. So he is just an empty space being filled by an empty body. That's why he doesn't really count.
He says he's avoiding the obvious "Beavis and Butthead" comparison and he wants to be called "Willie" Nelson from now on.
Bil Nelson: a hemorrhoid on the rectum of life.